Mary Poppins' Rebecca Luker on Being Mrs. Banks

When Rebecca Luker arrived in New York two decades ago, fresh out of a small Alabama college, she quickly found success on Broadway in the kinds of roles Barbara Cook or Julie Andrews would have played once upon a time—including several they did play, Marian in The Music Man and Maria in The Sound of Music. Luker’s gorgeous lyric soprano and all-American looks have made her the go-to actress for stage heroines ranging from her first big success, Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, to her current long run as Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins. Broadway.com recently caught up with the three-time Tony Award nominee, who chatted about her career path, her marriage to fellow Broadway star Danny Burstein (South Pacific) and her forthcoming solo CD, Greenwich Time.

You’re coming up on three years in Mary Poppins. What do you enjoy about a long run?
The security of it is great, but you also make lifelong friends. It’s like going to work and seeing your family every day. My co-star Dan Jenkins [George Banks] is the sweetest man in the world next to my husband. My dresser, Russell, and I go all the way back to Phantom days. We’ve known each other 21 years; he’s like my brother. And Ruth Gottschall, and Ann Arvia and Mark Price—there are some wonderful souls in this show.

You and Danny [who plays Luther Billis in the long-running hit South Pacific] have the closest thing Broadway actors can get to a normal life.
We do! It’s sort of like we go to the office together at 5:30 or 6 every night, or at noon on matinee days. We both know how lucky we are, so you hang on to it for as long as it makes sense. Right now we’re having a great time.
That’s right. It’s hard to do this eight times a week, lord knows, just the physical part of it, but you take care of yourself and go from there.

Well, you’re both in roles that brought you Tony nominations, which must be nice.

Did you ever feel a twinge that this show wasn’t done 15 years ago? The role of Mary Poppins has your name on it.
Thank you for saying that, but no, I never did. I’ve done those leading lady roles, and I was looking forward to doing the second-tier, slightly older, interesting character. I’ve never seen anybody work as hard as the person who plays Mary Poppins. Not that that’s bad, but I’ve done it. Having 15 costume changes, always being on stage—it’s grueling, frankly, so maybe it’s better that she’s 25 instead of 45. Mary Poppins is an ageless character, but Cameron Mackintosh wanted [a younger Mary]. In a way it’s good, because the age range of women in the show goes from 20s to 60s, which is really unusual and really nice.

Is it true that you managed to finish a large needlepoint canvas while sitting onstage in character?
Yes, the prop guys found me this big piece of fabric and a heap of thread and a needle. Every night I’d sit and make things up—an alphabet and little houses and trees and suns and weird things. Even my understudies needlepointed on it when I was on vacation. Over a year’s time, I filled it up, and Danny and I had it framed. It’s a little piece of history! I’m doing another one now that has a pattern. It’s a B, which can stand for Burstein or Banks.

Mrs. Banks is different in the stage version than in the movie. Do you miss the subplot about her being a suffragette?
No. The movie was great, but I always thought the suffragette angle was odd because if she was that independent and ahead of her time, I’m not sure she would have been under George’s thumb so much. Making her an ex-actress is more realistic. I love Winifred because she’s a loving wife and mother who’s struggling to find her identity. She makes the journey to a confident woman who realizes that she’s the soul of this family.

You’ve played so many “good girls.” Have you ever wished you could play a villainous character?
I haven’t pursued those roles as vigorously, and also my vocal type lends itself to roles like Marian [in The Music Man] and Maria [in The Sound of Music]. But I think as I get older I’ll do more character stuff—maybe even a bitch here and there; that would be nice [laughs].

It’s a long way from Helena, Alabama, to Broadway. Is your family very southern? Does everybody have an accent?
Slightly. We pronounced our Rs; we weren’t from that “no R” area [laughs]. It wasn’t a Scarlett O’Hara thing.

What were you like in high school? Were you a cheerleader? Did you ever do beauty pageants?
Oh god, I did a little of that. I was actually in Junior Miss; that got me a scholarship to college [at the University of Montevallo]. But I was never a cheerleader. I was in the band and I twirled a rifle. That was big back then—the rifle squad. I twirled a flag and then graduated to a rifle.

You got cast in The Phantom of the Opera pretty quickly after moving to New York, right?
Yes, I was hired to be the understudy to Christine in 1987. None of us knew then that Sarah Brightman was only going to do five shows a week; I think [the actress playing Christine] does six now. They hired Patti Cohenour to be the alternate and do three shows, and I was bummed. I don’t know why I thought I should get the alternate; Patti was very established and very good and she rightly got it. Anyway, I understudied it for about nine months and then moved up to alternate for four months and then did the role for three years before I moved on to The Secret Garden.

You’ve had so many great male co-stars, from Phantom to now. Any favorites?
They’ve all been great. Dan Jenkins is right there at the top—a wonderful partner onstage and a good friend offstage. Michael Siberry in Sound of Music; Craig Bierko in Music Man. Cris Groenendaal was a hoot; he was the Phantom with me the longest time and we laughed so much. He’s still a good friend. We’ve done a lot of concerts and recordings together over the years.

Speaking of concerts, what do you enjoy about singing with orchestras?
Oh, it’s so much fun. I’m going to Washington D.C. this fall to sing with Marvin Hamlisch in a Music Man concert with Shirley Jones [November 27-28 at the Kennedy Center]. The live experience in front of an orchestra is so great; you’re enveloped by this big sound. You feel humbled, but being a partner with them is thrilling.

You have a new solo CD coming soon, right?
Yes, it’s called Greenwich Time, and it will hit iTunes on September 30 and store shelves on October 20. It’s a compilation of 14 songs I’ve been collecting for the past six or seven years, songs I feel passionate about. There’s a beautiful John Kander song that no one has ever heard [“Summer With You”] and a little-known Jule Styne and Carolyn Leigh song [“Killing Time”]. I’m also doing “Unusual Way” from Nine, which is probably the most well known song. The title, which comes from a song by Sam Davis, seemed right to me; it’s a New York-sounding title, a little bohemian. I’m very proud of this CD.
That’s right. We also did the Barry Manilow show Harmony together in California.

You and Danny met when you did the musical Time and Again together in La Jolla?

What drew you to each other?
We were in a group with Howard McGillin and Jessica Molaskey and George Dvorsky—the five of us were very close friends. It was nice beginning that way. I always loved Danny—he’s smart, he’s sweet, he’s kind—but we weren’t available to be with each other at that time. We were just friends for a year and a half. And then we found ourselves having coffee and going to concerts together, and it just happened naturally. Now I can’t believe that I found my soulmate that way.

There was never any drama between your Alabama family and his Queens, NYC family?
No, I adore his family, and my family loves Danny. I remember the first day I met his mom and dad; I just loved them right away, and I hope they felt the same way about me. And our boys, Danny’s two sons [Alex and Zach], are here.

The boys were little when you and Danny got together. Was it more difficult then, or now that they’re teenagers?
It’s definitely easier now, even though they’re 13 and 16. I met them 10 years ago, and I feel like we’ve become more of a family. They’re great boys, great young men.

What’s the key to being a good stepmother?
I don’t know [laughs]. Everybody’s experience is different. I think the key is just listening and loving them. Sometimes you’re their friend, and sometimes you have to be the disciplinarian. It’s hard, because you’re just the stepmother and you don’t know quite how you fit in, especially in the beginning. But you just try to be honest with them and be their friend, and eventually you fall in love. Danny is a very strong father, so I’ve learned by watching him be their father over the years.

I was struck by something Danny said in a Broadway Q&A after his most recent Tony nomination, that actors never feel a sense of security in their careers.
I agree with that, absolutely. But if you break it down, certain things get easier and certain things get harder. As a woman, getting older is hard. I’m moving out of the ingenue and into something else. Just when you think, “I’m perfect for this,” someone else gets it, or you don’t get seen for something you’re right for. There’s always crazy stuff to deal with.

But the two of you must feel a sense of satisfaction with your place as Broadway stars.
We don’t think of ourselves that way, but we feel very lucky to do what we do.

See Rebecca Luker in Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre.